It’s been an odd, exhausting week, filled with unexpected legal activity, amazingly expensive technology, and deeply saddening deaths of beloved figures. But enough about our personal lives, let’s talk about what’s been happening on the Intern—oh, OK, you got to the punchline first. But with Ireland accidentally instituting a drug Purge, Robin Thicke becoming an unlikely figurehead for creative expression, and Apple trying to convince us that $10,000 isn’t a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a watch (just duct-tape your iPhone to your wrist, it’s much cheaper), it really has been a weird week on the web. Here’s what you might have missed.
Watches! They’re Back! Apparently!
What Happened: Apple finally gets around to offering up details on the watch we’ve been hearing about forever. Turns out the high-end version is $10,000.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, blogs, media think pieces
What Really Happened: No matter how much you’ve been hiding from the world, it can’t have escaped your notice that Apple finally announced more details on its Apple Watch this week. As with every Apple announcement, this prompted a flurry of online activity, including a lot of people offering reasons not to buy one: You can get better alternatives for less money! The battery life may be terrible! A Rolex is a better investment! You can already buy pirated versions!
Of course, that hasn’t stopped people from wanting the watch. Look, here’s someone who’d like the Internet to pay for it on his behalf. Apparently, factories are already struggling to keep up with demand, which either shows how labor intensive the watch is or how many people have far too much money for their own good. Reaction on social media was split between “I want one” and “I could never be able to afford one,” as should be expected, but at least some people are already looking ahead to the next next big thing:
The Takeaway: Apple is going to have to go a lot further than it has so far to convince us that we can’t just look at our phones to see all of this stuff already. Didn’t we all agree that we were over watches years ago, anyway?
Ireland Forgets How the Law Works
What Happened: The Republic of Ireland accidentally legalized all manner of drugs. Many people suddenly wondered how quickly they could move to Ireland.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, blogs, media think pieces
What Really Happened: The Irish legal system is in a bit of churn lately, with a court ruling Tuesday accidentally making it legal to possess ecstasy, meth, ketamine, and other class-A drugs as the result of accepting that the current Misuse of Drugs Act was, in fact, unconstitutional. As you might expect, many people noticed, leading to some great coverage. Best headline? Probably “Irish Government Goes Full Caligula, Legalizing Drugs and Banning Hereteosexuality for a Day”—oh, yeah; there were also worries that unclear wording in a legal bill accidentally made hetero marriage illegal. We probably should’ve mentioned that, too.
Obviously, Twitter had a lot to say about the subject:
A Wednesday ruling closed the loophole, but clearly unleashed some kind of legal fever over there: authorities have since announced that more than 5,000 laws deemed “obsolete” will be repealed. Here’s hoping they pay close attention to what they’re repealing this time.
The Takeaway: We can only hope other countries learn from Ireland’s mistake, however, before we accidentally end up in a scenario where all crimes are legal and society as we know it breaks down for 24 hour periods. Hey, it could happen, why else would they have made two movies about it?
Turns Out, Rap Music Isn’t to Blame for Racism. Who Knew?
What Happened: On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, it was apparently old folks’ old excuses day, with rap music finding itself being blamed for all evils in the modern world.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, blogs, media think pieces
What Really Happened: This just in from the “Yes, it’s 2015 and this still happens” department: On Wednesday, hosts and guests on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show—all white—argued that the reason for University of Oklahoma frat members being caught on video chanting racist epithets was, of course, rap music. If that sounds ridiculous, you might be happy to note it proved to be so ridiculous Twitter responded in the only way it knew how: outright mockery. Introducing the hashtag #RapAlbumsThatCausedSlavery:
In an attempt to repair the self-inflicted damage, Morning Joe invited a number of black panelists onto the show Thursday to discuss the U of O video. None of them, impressively, pointed out how boneheaded the comments the previous day had been.
The Takeaway: On the one hand, it’s nice to know such stupid opinions just lead to those offering them getting clowned, instead of being taken seriously. On the other, how can anyone suggest that on television and not have everyone around them just tell them they’re wrong?
That Unexpected Moment When We All Sided With Robin Thicke
What Happened: A court ruled Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams owed the family of Marvin Gaye $7.4 million over the similarity between “Blurred Lines” and the Gaye song “Got to Give It Up.” This was not a popular opinion.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, blogs, media think pieces
What Really Happened: Just when the world had learned to accept Robin Thicke is a figure of derision and scorn, it had to collectively reassess things when a lawsuit brought by the Marvin Gaye estate over whether or not Thicke’s 2013 song “Blurred Lines” lifted from Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up” ended with a ruling in the Gaye estate’s favor, awarding them $7.4 million as a result.
Almost immediately, arguments about why this was a bad decision started flooding the Internet, including one with the headline “It’s okay if you hate Robin Thicke. But the ‘Blurred Lines’ verdict is bad for pop music.” Musicians wrote about the problems of confusing appropriation and inspiration, critics wrote about the way this ruling will stifle creative expression, and journalists argued the songs aren’t even that similar in the first place. (Rolling Stone summarized possible implications for the music industry, but downplayed a lot of other people’s fears, noting that it is unlikely to result in “the death of the music business.”)
Williams’ attorney posted an op-ed explaining that the case isn’t over yet with the use of some unexpected baseball metaphors (“We now head into the later innings of the contest,” he wrote, sounding a little too upbeat about just losing), and many believe the ruling will be thrown out on appeal, but for now, we’re in a strange place where the future of creative expression may be endangered over the success or failure of Robin Thicke’s career. How did that happen?
The Takeaway: You know something’s a bad idea when it interrupts our schadenfreude over Robin Thicke getting bad news.
It’s a Miracle
What Happened: Never mind the rest of Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, let’s talk about that theme song. A lot.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, blogs, media think pieces
What Really Happened: Depending on who you talk to, Kimmy Schmidt is either a sensitive portrayal of abuse survivors or more than a little racist (it could very well be both, although we’re not convinced it’s connected to The Americans ), but everyone agrees on one thing: that theme song is insanely catchy.
It’s so catchy, in fact, that everyone is talking to the people responsible. (Yes, even WIRED.) Given that the theme song is a parody of viral videos, the fact that it’s ended up going viral itself is either irony or a sign of a job well done.
The Takeaway: Anything that gets people singing “females are strong as hell” is, of course, a good thing, but if this means that auto-tuned videos are going to suddenly be everywhere again, you’ve got a lot to answer for, Kimmy.
RIP, Terry Pratchett
What Happened: The much beloved author of the Discworld series died on Thursday, seven years after he revealed that he had early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Where It Blew Up: Twitter, blogs, media think pieces
What Really Happened: In one sense, Pratchett’s death shouldn’t have been a surprise—he had been fighting Alzheimer’s for years, after all. However, when his death was announced, it was shattering to his fans, as was obvious from the reaction online to his death.
The online tributes were numerous, but Val McDermid’s and Kieron Gillen’s stand out in particular.
The Takeaway: As many pointed out, he’ll live on through his work—including one final novel, completed last year, to be published this fall—but, still. He’ll be very much missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment